So I lease a 14 year old mare from a person who, to put it lightly, isn’t the most qualified person to be owning a horse. She doesn’t take the best of care of her horses but for the past 7 months I’ve been leasing this mare and it’s better for her. Anyways, I was grooming my mare and I had read somewhere to keep their teats clean, so I reached down under her and there was a bunch of black crusty gunk in between them! I cleaned all the gunk off and when I came out the next day, there was just as much gunk as before! It has a gross smell to it as well. What do you think could be the cause of this? Could it be an infection? What kind of tests/treatments should be put in place? Or is she just fine?
Thanks!
Sounds like smegma. Totally normal. Some mares are dirtier than others.
Wash it off daily, or whenever you can, for the first while. Use plain warm water, a warm hose if you have it, and a very mild soap only if necessary. You don’t want to dry the skin out and add to the problem. Also you can wash under her tail, while you are at it, which would help if she is prone to tail-rubbing.
The gunk isn’t just body secretions, but IME dirt from the paddock or arena also gets up in there.
Keep her clean for a few weeks and see what happens.
Be gentle when you do it, so she doesn’t start cow-kicking, and keep your face above her body, so she can’t cow-kick you in the teeth.
My mare will start to rub her tail out quite badly if her “lady parts” get at all dirty. It started one winter when she had temporary diarrhea from a change in hay, and I have a huge hunk of tail hair hanging on my bathroom door while I try to figure out a good craft project for it :). Now I try to keep her clean, which is easier in the summer when she gets frequent baths in the wash rack. And sometimes she actually asks me to wash her butt, if I miss it 
Both my mares, OK one is a 9 month old filly absolutely love to have their udders washed. It is very itchy to them and they enjoy the “scratch”.
My filly loves it if I just rub her udders even if they aren’t dirty. I have seen mares not like this, just like some geldings with their sheath. But mine adore it.
Yup, totally normal. Just means you need to clean her more often to prevent the buildup. I always make sure to hose my mare’s under side and teats very well after most rides and I go after it with a sponge when she gets an actual bath.
Some mares love to have their teats cleaned and manhandled. Other mares, like mine, have to be desensitized first. I had to use a dressage whip for a couple days to teach her that trying to take my head off with her hind leg was not appropriate. She still hates it and wrings her tail but she no longer tries to kick.
" love to have their udders washed."
Minor peeve-it isn’t “udders”.
It’s “udder”. Only one udder per animal.
[QUOTE=Ghazzu;8644495]
" love to have their udders washed."
Minor peeve-it isn’t “udders”.
It’s “udder”. Only one udder per animal.[/QUOTE]
In this case, the plural is correct. The poster was referring to multiple horses, each with her own udder, hence “their udders.” 
[QUOTE=coloredhorse;8644570]
In this case, the plural is correct. The poster was referring to multiple horses, each with her own udder, hence “their udders.” :D[/QUOTE]
Ummm, “My filly loves it if I just rub her udders” is from the same post.
I am udderly appalled at these grammatical errors!
You can use sheath cleaner to soften the smegma between the teats. I run a breeding barn and have found the mares don’t object as much to having that area cleaned if I put some sheath cleaner on it and let it soak in before trying to clean it off. The cleaner softens and almost melts the black stuff away.
When my mare was alive, I used to keep a pack of baby wipes in the groom box and wipe down her udder when I groomed. She would get cruddy pretty quickly and baby wipes took care of it.
Sorry but I happen to use my cell phone when I post, God forbid autocorrect put something in and I don’t go back and proofread. Apologies to all that were offended
Not offended. Simply pointing out a common anatomical misconception amongst horsepeople. Ten years of teaching anatomy will do that to you…
Sweat + dirt = gross stuff. Clean her UDDER after each ride.
PSA-- One day a few years ago (10+ years into horseownership) I discovered that sand can stick to horse nether regions, both male and female. Hose off your horse’s underside if you’ve been riding in wet sand. (Or perhaps sweaty horse + dry sand.)
How to put a mare brain into overload:
1-put her most favorite-est ever feed in her bucket
2-start cleaning her udder while she is eating
Mare’s brain was totally overloaded by pleasure sensations - she wanted to nuzzle me and tell me how wonderful the rubbing and scratching was, but wanted to work on her meal as well.
star
My three year old has always lifted her hind leg aside to “assist” me in the cleaning of the (singular) udder. I also use baby wipes and address it daily with grooming though be careful it doesn’t dry out whatever one uses.
I’ll try to get a picture of this - she almost falls over she enjoys it so much.
Her mother, on the other hand, detests my cleaning of her udder (though loves having clean “under tail” parts). Even though we clean the udder daily, she will cock a hind leg as a warning to me each.and.every.day. So every day we are telling a certain grumpy mare to knock.it.off.
If it’s dry and crusty, get some warm water and sheath cleaner on it for a few minutes, it can really stick and pull.
Just take a warm bucket of water and a terry wash cloth out every day and wipe it. The mare I had was dirty like that, not all of them accumulate as much.
Reminds me of the children’s book, was it Danny? When the girl was riding another girl’s pony and remarked at how it wasn’t being taken care of because when she cleaned under her tail it was so dirty :lol:
I can’t imagine a mare producing so much she needs it cleaned every day??
I do mine when she is bathed and the warm water and stuff is all there and ready. Sheath cleaner, bathe the rest of the horse and come back and rinse by gently rubbing with a terry cloth.
She says “Ooooh, aaaah”.
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8647394]
I can’t imagine a mare producing so much she needs it cleaned every day??[/QUOTE]
:lol:
I do not clean my mare every day but she could easily be cleaned every day. She gets really yucky between her teats very quickly.
My other mare is always pretty darn clean up there.
Thankfully it is this way, the clean mare is not a fan of me touching her there, the dirty mare lifts her leg and makes it easy for me to clean away.
